A three-day strike by thousands of oil workers belonging to the Kuwait Oil Workers Union has ended, AFP reports.
"In respect for the emir and in loyalty to him... we have decided to cancel the total strike," an official statement by the union said, ending action that had crippled the country's oil production by over fifty percent.
The statement said workers would go back to work at 0400 GMT.
"We trust the emir... for the protection of the rights of oil workers," the union announced on its Twitter account.
The announcement was made only hours after union leaders held a press conference in which they had vowed to continue striking unless all their demands were met, including exclusion from government plans to introduce a new payroll scheme which would lead to reduced benefits and salaries for Kuwait's 20,000 oil workers.
Kuwait has been under pressure to trim budgets and government plans to include oil and gas workers in the new payroll scheme for public servants prompted the strike action.
Nevertheless, the union proclaimed the strike a success.
Over the three days, Kuwait's crude production dropped from 3.0 million barrels per day to just 1.5 million bpd and refining output dived to 520,000 bpd from 930,000 bpd, according to AFP. The temporary cut in production during the strike fuelled a spike in oil prices.
According to AFP, US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for delivery in May jumped $1.30 (3.3 per cent) to $41.08 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange while in London, European benchmark Brent North Sea crude for June delivery finished at $44.03 a barrel, a gain of $1.12 (2.6 per cent) from Monday's settlement.
US oil prices dipped on news of the end of the strike action, as Kuwait vowed to push production back up.
